The Mech Touch

6044 The Limitless Provider

Despite the absence of many councilors, the ones that attended the second session were perfectly capable of holding thorough discussions on what should or should not be permissible.

Nobody disagreed on the necessity to outlaw demonic cultivation methods that derived their power from plundering the strength and vitality of other people.

"It is not enough to rely on existing laws to prohibit these vile acts of murder." An angry-looking female councilor spoke. "I propose that we deem murder for the express purpose of advancing one's cultivation as taboo!"

"Hear hear!"

"I agree!"

"We cannot give cultivators any leeway over this matter!"

It did not surprise Ves that the councilor who made this proposal cfrom a third-rate state. All of the other councilors from third and second-rate states supported her proposal.

Their states and citizens were the most vulnerable to these sorts of crimes. They did not possess the tech and strength to prevent or stop such acts from occurring on a wider scale.

The footage of the first recorded incident showed how easy it was for a demonic cultivator to attack the weak. Just because the criminal apparently based his strength on ancient methods did not mean he was prohibited from making use of modern weapons and tools.

What if the demonic cultivator brought a mech instead of infantry gear?

What if he employed a warship to perpetrate a slaughter on an unimaginable scale?

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Ves knew as long as the incentive was high enough, cultivators would be willing to do anything!

Much of the notoriety of his mother's past incarnation cfrom her penchant of draining the power of her enemies and other victims.

The Mistress of the Oceans, who owned the original Oceancaller, advanced her True God cultivation by maliciously flooding all of the settlements on entire occupied planets!

Then there were the creators of the Sacred Scrolls. Each of them had attempted to commit one of the gravest of taboos by stealing the strength from the heavenly authority of the Milky Way Galaxy!

The consequences were dire. Demonic cultivation, especially when targeted towards humans on a massive scale, led to a severe drop of population, stability and cohesion. There was not much good that people could say about predatory cultivation approaches.

However, there were still those that did not agree to wholesale prohibitions of this vicious style of cultivation.

A female Star Designer chose to provide a counterweight.

"We are not herbivores, councilors." The Limitless Provider responded. "What is a demonic cultivation method? Should all forms of cultivation that are based on harming others be declared forbidden? If that is the case, we should stop mech pilots from performing their duties, as they directly or indirectly grow in power the more they fight against others. Aggression is not necessarily a sin. What matters is who you direct it towards. Many of you understand the dire state of red humanity. We cannot and should not impose too many taboos on ourselves. The more we constrain our actions with self-imposed rules, the weaker we become. If there is a fast and convenient method to grow more powerful by plundering the strength of native aliens, then we should support it, not prohibit it out of a misguided motivation to coddle our population."

A third-class councilor gritted his teeth. "How can you possibly control the cultivators who are allowed to practice such methods?! It is possible that most of the cultivators who learn this method will abide by the rules that you have set, but it only takes a small proportion of bad apples to inflict a disproportionate amount of damage to our society. Compared to plundering the strength of hostile native aliens, it is much easier to plot against other humans. How many millions of billions of people will die because of prioritizing the development of powerful cultivators over protecting human decency?!"

A furious debate broke out. Tiffany MacArthur-Marmedion, a notable 300 year old Star Designer of the Expansionist Faction, did not want the Interim Leadership Council to completely eliminate what may very well be a fast and effective way of raising the strength of a lot of human cultivators.

This was not that much a surprise to the people who read her biography. The Limitless Provider had dedicated much of her work towards the development of seemingly endless energy sources. She was obsessed with breaking the limits that constrained her work. She gained great satisfaction from liberating people of all kinds of rules that constrained their potential.

While that made her sound like a natural fit for the Unbound Humanity Faction, she actually joined the Expansionist Faction. She even married the Dimension Architect who led the Expansionists!

From what Ves had heard, the Limitless Provider was friends with the Resonance Smith, but she did not join his faction in the end.

This indicated that the female Star Designer possessed a lot of personal ambitions. The importance of expanding human space and gaining access to more alien tech and new materials surpassed her desire to reduce the weight of the mechers and the fleeters!

In any case, the Limitless Provider did not only have a philosophical reason to prevent the Red Collective from taking a universally hostile stance towards 'demonic cultivation'.

"Letgive you a real and current example of how cultivation based on absorbing the strength of your defeated opponents can beca productive force in our society." The Expansionist spoke. "The Hunting Association founded by the Huntsman has already begun to convert exobeast hunters into cultivators. By practicing the tenets of the Hunter's Code, these hunters are able to improve their cultivation by devouring the flesh of their kills or devoting their prey to the Huntsman. In the years since the Hunting Association has been in operation, many hunters have grown quickly, vastly exceeding the progress they can attain if they practice more conventional cultivation methods."

The Hunting Association had becmore and more ubiquitous. The rapidly growing organization placed branches on any plthat was being threatened by mutating exobeasts.

Although the hunters who practiced the Hunter's Code initially did not seem special, now that the more successful ones had hunted down dozens of large and intimidating exobeasts, their extraordinary power and abilities becincreasingly more obvious!

Having witnessed the hunters and examined the Hunter's Code himself, Ves knew that the Limitless Provider made an excellent point.

If the hunters preyed on other humans, then they would have been slapped with the label of demonic cultivators without any doubt!

Yet because they maintained their own sense of honor and strictly engaged in ritualistic hunts against exobeasts that were universally hostile towards civilized life, the hunters were not only doing a great service to red humanity, but got rewarded in the process!

It was quite natural for the Limitless Provider to stand up for the Huntsman, who also led the Expansionist Faction.

The fact that the Expansionists still boasted 4 Star Designers and 2 god pilots made it difficult for other groups to ignore their outsized influence!

In fact, the original cause of the Expansionist Faction had pretty much becirrelevant at this time. Nobody was in a mood to think about expanding human space when the native aliens were doing their best to erase human civilization in its entirety!

Many people hoped that the various Star Designers and god pilots of the Expansionist Faction would have a falling out and join the other factions of the Red Association.

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That had not happened. It was a testament to the Energy Warder's leadership that the large faction continued to remain relatively united from top to bottom. The 500 year old Star Designer did not manage to live so long and climb his way up by being incompetent!

"I… admit that the Hunting Association has been a force of good in many states." A second-class councilor conceded. "I suppose it has served as a model of a sect before sects have gained official status. That does not mean that hunters can be trusted to maintain control over themselves. It can take only one bad day for any of them to snap and treat other humans as their prey!"

It was brave of him to argue against a Star Designer, but the Limitless Provider always had an answer to every accusation.

"The Huntsman has implemented enough safeguards and incentives in the Hunter's Code to prevent this scenafrom taking place. Hunters can only effectively derive their strength from powerful enough prey. Attacking the weak will not yield them any benefits. It will actually degrade them, as they have violated the tenets of the Hunter's Code."

"That may be true, but this only applies to hunters who have registered at the Hunting Association. What of other demonic cultivators? There are old books and records in circulation that claim to give people a means to transform into gods as long as they sacrifice enough human lives. These old and destructive texts are filled with temptations, but contain none of the protections of the Hunter's Code."

"Then the Red Collective shall aspire to remove them as much as possible." The Limitless Provider said in a reasonable tone. "I am not opposed to prohibiting all forms of aggressive cultivation. We can make a rule that any cultivation method that breaks our existing laws should still be outlawed. This clearly means that cultivation that in sway harms other humans in any fashion should be restricted or eliminated."

"With respect, that is not enough to prevent abuse, Your Excellency. There will be far too many cultivators who will try to exploit loopholes in order to accelerate their progress. The risks are too great. As far as I am concerned, we must strictly limit this approach and impose greater limitations on the Hunter's Code while we are at it. Have you conducted any safety studies on the consequences of devouring defeated prey? Many hunters are known to develop increasingly greater personality problems as they grow stronger. What if they are gradually turning more and more into the beasts they are hunting? You cannot dismiss their deviating behavior as mere eccentricities!"

The Limitless Provider elegantly folded her arms. "The phenomenon you speak of is known to us. This is the natural consequence of experiencing rapid growth in strength without spending enough tto acclimate to their transformations. This is a human problem, not a cultivation problem. The Hunting Association is in the process of enhancing its policies to regulate the growth of hunters."

"Therapy is far from enough to restrain these beasts in the making! We need to impose stronger control over these mentally ill hunters!"

The argument between the two sides continued. Ves made sure to keep himself out of this ugly fight. His body sagged into his large seat as he tried his best to maintain an expressionless face. The less he showed he had an opinion, the lower the chance that people would notice he was present!

Of course, the less he wanted to get called out, the greater the likelihood it occurred!

"Professor Larkinson." The Limitless Provider suddenly turned to the previously inconspicuous Senior Mech Designer. "Please share your input with us. As third-rater by birth, you understand the plight of common humans on a more personal level. You are also descended from a powerful cultivator and war criminal who used to earn a great amount of notoriety by perpetrating the crimes that the Red Collective seeks to prevent. You should therefore possess a broader perspective on this subject."

Ves couldn't help but frown. The Star Designer may be right, but that did not mean he liked it when people brought this information back into the forefront of everyone's minds!

He was not eager to give his answer either. He had a strong feeling that there was more at stake than the legitimacy of the Hunting Association and so on. Power was incredibly seductive, so there were bound to be a lot of other interests that saw value in practicing one form of demonic cultivation or another!

Should Ves take the initiative to foil their plans, or he get out of the way and remain as uninvolved as possible?